Getting out and about

Little be little, we seem to knock our "to do" list down. It's more like 2 steps forward, one step back. We are finding out that this culture here is big on "freebies". So when we bought our TV's, each came with a free gift (surround sound system, bluray player, etc...). We were excited that we could get just a little more for our money. Imagine our surprise when the salesman handed up a piece of paper giving us the details of what, when and how we needed to go pick them up. So we trekked out the other day to 2 different locations. We got 2 out of the three gifts, the other was on backorder. The boxes were massive and heavy and try carrying them out to your car when there is no place to park, and no one to help you get them in the car - we knew there had to be a hitch ;-)

We went to dinner with some of B's colleagues at the Singapore Island Country Club - what a great evening. The view from the restaurant was the golf course. When we finished dinner - we were toured around the area. Beautiful countryside... I just wanted to grab a book and sit outside for the rest of the evening. Great amenities and the hospitality is top notch. The one thing we did notice between the country club and the American club is that if you are paying for a membership, the rest of the amenities are rather inexpensive. That's the way it should be...

We went to the Singapore Zoo and did the Night Safari - WOW! Very cool... It is a 45 minute ride on a tram with no lighting through the zoo's natural habitat. We saw animals we have never seen or even heard of before. Little S was a tad bit nervous as he kept telling me to make sure I had 2 hands on my purse and camera at all times. I guess it's sweet that he didn't want my things falling overboard - although I think he was more concerned with our things instead of Mommy...




We have also been bowling and swimming at The American Club. It also includes a library, gameroom, video rental, restaurants and other various services. So far so good - we are really having a great time - right now it really feels like we are on vacation.

Meeting People

At the gym after class, I met 2 women. The first one was a sweetheart. Young, blond from Austin. In fact, has a lot of knowledge of The Woodlands, because she grew up just north of there. Really nice, moving back to the States in December.

The second lady - typical socialite. The type that probably hangs out at the American Club, goes shopping and doesn't do much else. She was asking me if I had found doctors, grocery stores, hairdressers. She told me that I needed to be careful where I went to get my hair done because not many people know how to cut "American" hair.

I guess it's a good thing I'm Asian!

Aaaahhhh...

I went to the gym today!!! For those of you that know me, I was thrilled to be able to get to the gym today and work out. I got in about 45 minutes of cardio and I took Body Pump for the first time in three weeks. It was great to hear the tunes that I love and be in a high energy situation. The instructor (I'll leave out his name) was a local Singaporean. He made the corniest jokes and from being in there just 5 minutes, I could tell that most of the women in the class don't laugh with him, they laugh AT him. After the warm-up, I was thrilled, because here was an instructor that knew his choreography and knew how to keep the beat. At least, so I thought...

He started with the warmup - perfect. One of my favorite warm-up songs. "Come to Me". I was singing along - tapping my feet, just so happy to be back.
Next was squats - a song I have NEVER heard before. It had something to do about being ready for a race...
Next, chest. "Uno Dos Tres Maria" Another good one. By about this point, I realized that after each track when everyone moans, he copies us and then giggles like a girl.
Back and Hamstrings - "Africa" Now, I know this one by heart. He put in about 500 extra triple rows after the jumble jumble part that all of us pretend to know how to sing. No break where there should have been, so after the 500 triple rows, 6 clean and presses.
Triceps - another one of my favorites "Ain't it funny". It was a booger.
Biceps - "Stand Tough" - by this time I realized that I couldn't do my normal weight, so I went down a baby. The instructor giggled like a girl and told us we were all old ladies. WHAT???
Lunges - didn't recognize this one... but it was pretty old, had calf raises and squats in it.
Shoulders - "One night in bangkok" A good one - but he added 500 pulses - in a row. AND he told me I had to stack my plates instead of holding them separately.
Abs - never heard the song before - something having to do with holding a pretend ball in your arms and then extending your legs then putting one arm behind your ear and lifting the other one to your ankle while your feet are extended in mid air.
Yeah - that's what I thought too.

He sings out loud also - picture a buff, fairly good looking Asian man singing 2 octaves too high for a man and totally off key. And I kept thinking how much I was REALLY going to miss R and J at the gym.

BUT, I loved every minute of it!!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to one of the most wonderful men I have ever met - my DH. And a happy day to all the Father's in the world. I love you B and I love you Dad!!!

A few minor inconveniences...

Well, we are finally in the house and very excited to be here. I was able to get most of my indian grocery shopping done and was happy to make a home cooked meal. I did the usual: soaked lentils, made the dough for roti, etc... I then proceeded to start making dinner. We have our Vonage set up and as I was talking to my dad, I realized that I didn't have any type of rolling pin for the roti. Oh well, I guess toast will have to do.

There are many things here that remind you that this is an Asian society and not the good 'ol USA. For instance - in order to use an outlet, you have to flip a switch so that it has power. There are water heater switches for each bathroom. If they are not on, you have to wait 15 minutes before you can get in the shower. There are no outlets in the bathroom so you need to find somewhere else to dry your hair.

But the kicker is there is no garbage disposal in the sink. So you have to do it the old fashioned way - throw all the gunk out by hand. The good thing is that garbage pick up is virtually every day - except weekends. Gotta love that.

The kids and I ventured out to the grocery store today. We walked down and took a cab back considering there was no way we could have carried it. It was nice to get out and smell the air and look around. Even the little one enjoyed himself. I'm like a kid in a candy store - you can get almost any Asian produce for very little money. The dry and boxed goods is what'll kill you. I think the grocery stores are destined to be crowded. There is so little space - even the mini shopping carts are hard to maneuver through. Most of the buildings here are built upwards not outwards.

All in all - we are just enjoying the differences and really learning to appreciate them.

Til next time,

S

Ready to move in.

We are ever so close to moving in to our new place. Since we have completely unloaded in our apartment, I am going to start moving some of our things over today. Which also means I get to take B's car and try to make it to the house on my own. I'm fairly sure how to get there, just need to take it easy, not drive too fast and resist the urge to drift to the left. Wish me luck!
The kids have been very good. I can't imagine how different this must feel to them. Although it probably feels as if we are on vacation right now since the apartment has a pool and play area complete with video games. Still, with all the running around we have been doing, they have really tried hard not to upset the apple cart.
The one that really has it the worst is B. He can't get fully started in his new job until he has us settled - I think once we are in the house, it will get better. I don't get a car for another month or so, so I plan to get better acquainted with the public transportation system. There are bus stops wherever you go - so getting around will not be an issue. And most stores will deliver if you buy a certain amount.
As soon as I get our own internet up and running in our home - I'll get some pictures posted.

S

Sights and Sounds of Singapore

Well, we've now been here for about 4 days and after the initial shock of jet lag and just being in a different country, I think that we are really getting to see parts of the "real" Singapore. It just as tropical as I imagined. As we were at the pool yesterday, there were armed forces maneuvers going on. There was a helicopter flanked by 2 blackhawks that was repeatedly flying over the island as well as a fighter jet. I took pictures of the helicopters flying through the palm trees. It looked exactly like something out of "China Beach" - for those of you old enough to remember that show...
A lot of the locals here do not have air conditioning as it is very expensive to run. So they dry their clothes on clotheslines on the nth floor of their highrise. I tried drying my clothes like that also until our dryer in our apartment was fixed - 2 days later, they still were not dry due to the humidity here. There are highrises everywhere to accomodate all the people that live here - and today B told me that they want to increase the population by 2 million people! You see construction of highrise after highrise on every street corner.
I drove today for the first time here - I was not as nervous as I thought. Since they drive on the other side of the road here - lefts are rights and rights are lefts. We picked out a car - but you cannot drive them off the lot here - you have to wait roughly 3-5 weeks for all the paperwork to clear. The motorcycles take their own right-of-ways and you really have to watch out for them.
I did get a local Singapore "hand phone" (cell phone) so at least I can call B if I need him.
The smell of Singapore to me is sea water mixed with fish and bus fuel - very Asian. In the public places where they do have A/C - I think they have it turned down to 60 degrees. I constantly feel like a popsicle.
I am excited to get possession of our new place tomorrow - to have a place to call "home". This interim living thing gets really old, really fast. Hopefully in a week or so, we will be up and running fully. That is, until I get my car and until our things arive from the US.

Until next time...
S

The Move...part 2

After finally getting back on the plane in Moscow, we departed for Singapore. By this time we had already been on the plane for 12 hours and had another 10 to go. It was morning by this time and we were all wide awake. After playing countless games against each other and watching even more movies, it was time for a nap. The kids slept nicely while I continued trying to learn Mandarin to not much avail. I was fine with "dog", "cat", "map", etc... but when the computer started in on " Would you like wine with your meal? Yes, I would like wine with my meal", I was a lost cause.

We landed in Singapore to a balmy 88 degrees which was just fine for me. Both plane rides were chilly as was Moscow (53 degrees). The airport was beautiful - very modern, lots of glass. The kids were so excited! Customs was a breeze - there was no one in line and they let us in with no issues - this after the flight attendant made sure to tell us that we had to document our length of stay no longer than 14 days since that's the longest amount of time you can stay in Singapore on vacation. And since we did not have our employee/dependent passes yet, it's a good thing she told us that.

A limo service picked us up at the airport in a Mercedes van which was perfect considering the amount of luggage we had with us. On our ride to the apartment that we are temporarily staying in, there was so much to soak in, I'm not sure we caught it all. I do remember thinking that parts of Singapore were very similar to India - the British parts of India that is. I didn't seem to mind the driving on the opposite side of the road. It didn't feel as awkward as I thought. It is very much a tropical paradise - with palm trees and storm clouds around every corner.

We checked into the apartment and rested a while then continued on to pick up B's car. We also got a tour of our new place. We were very excited to see it! Even though the kids had slept on the plane - they did stay up all day and finally crashed about 7pm (6am Houston time) and slept for about 12 hours. We have our days and nights staightnened out - but still get a little groggy around 4 in the afternoon.

More to follow...

The Move... Part 1

We moved out of the house last Wednesday because the packers were so efficient and had left nothing for us to sit on...
The kids always seem to have fun at any hotel we stay in... but after 3 days of living on top of each other, they were ready to head on out. Little did they know...

We departed Houston on Saturday night at 11:45pm. The flight over to Moscow was fairly uneventful - the kids slept most of the way. We were in Business class on Singapore Airlines - which, I tell you, is the way to fly. We had our own in demand flight system to watch whatever we wanted (which for me included 2 Hindi movies and a lesson in Mandarin). The seats folded out into 6 foot beds - INCREDIBLE! And each meal was 4 courses.

When we landed in Moscow, the first impression I had walking off the aircraft was "GREY". Everything was grey, everyone was wearing grey. Very European, lots of smokers. Not the most well kept airport in the world. But it was still unimaginable that we were standing on Russian soil. I was actually there - albeit just the airport.
I only have a few minutes of Internet since the one in our room does not work, so more later...